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LITTLE
ROCK, Ark. (AP) -- An amended lawsuit against Republican presidential hopeful
Mike Huckabee claims he illegally used government funds to crush state computer
hard drives and aid the Mexican government to locate a consulate in Arkansas'
capital city.
The suit against the former governor, refiled Friday in
Pulaski County Circuit Court, comes as part of a Freedom of Information Act
complaint by Bella Vista resident Jim Parsons stemming from Huckabee's last
days in office. However, lawyers for Huckabee have said Parsons' lawsuit
violates the qualified immunity public servants are granted in the state's
constitution.
Huckabee used money from the Gov.'s Emergency Fund for a
series of purchases before leaving office, including giving $10,000 to the
city of Little Rock as it tried to bring a consulate there. Huckabee traveled
to Mexico in 2003 and has said hosting a consulate serving the mid-South from
Arkansas would be an economic boon.
The last $13,000 of the fund went toward destroying hard
drives used by the governor's office at the state Capitol, the Gov.'s Mansion
in Little Rock, Huckabee's Washington office and the hangar for the state
police airplane on which the governor traveled.
"Mike Huckabee treated the emergency appropriations
not as an appropriation for emergencies ... but rather as a 'slush fund' of
sorts, which he could use upon his whims for political purposes," the
suit alleges.
The lawsuit asks Huckabee to repay the spending with his
own money, as well as provide the state backup tapes that held some of the
files destroyed along with the hard drives. It also named current Gov. Mike
Beebe, asking him to turn over records from the backup tapes.
Huckabee, now a GOP front-runner in Iowa and South
Carolina, has defended destroying the hard drives, saying the discs contained
employees' or constituents' Social Security numbers and credit card
information.
Parsons, a self-described political gadfly, has filed
other ethics complaints against Arkansas politicians. The state Ethics
Commission previously dismissed two complaints that Parsons filed against
Huckabee over the hard drives' destruction.
Parsons said the timing of this complaint, about two and
a half weeks before the Iowa caucuses, had nothing to do with politics.
"I'm not so politically one party or the
other," Parsons said. "I just go after what's right and what's
wrong."
Parsons' new attorney in the case, Oscar Stilley of Fort
Smith, also is known as a gadfly for his anti-tax lawsuits and initiative
attempts. However, a panel of the state Supreme Court+ Committee on
Professional Conduct decided Friday that Stilley committed "serious
misconduct" in other incidents and issued an order to begin disbarment
proceedings.
Parsons said he didn't know about Stilley's hearing.
"I don't know how that will come out or anything
about his case," Parsons said.
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